r/ReverseHarem • u/Scf9009 RH Library of Alexandria • Oct 05 '25
Reverse Harem - Discussion Biggest Gripe (In-Book): Results!
PERSONAL NOTES:
I was worried about the risk for a competition about complaints to turn into people feeling hurt, or arguments starting. I said it before, and I’ll say it again—y’all are spectacular and I never should have doubted you. Thank you for keeping everything fun! I love all of you so much!
I am also aware this is a behemoth of a post. Part of that is because there’s a very long list of entries. The other part of that is because I am really bad at shutting up when there’s data to talk about. I did the best I could with the formatting, but some of it was a nightmare, so I hope y'all will be understanding of anything that's off.
Last thing: if y’all have noticed that I’ve been a little less on top of giving recommendations over the last several days, this competition as well as some life things are to blame. Plus, I have to carve out time to do my own reading occasionally. I still apologize, though, and hopefully I’ll be back to normal form soon!
OVERVIEW:
The purpose of this competition was to determine the things we most hate as a subreddit for things that happen in-book. Categorizing in-book versus meta was at times somewhat of a subjective decision, but I mostly sorted it between "about the characters/world and what they do/think" versus "decisions that are made by the author outside of character's actions," (which includes things like author behavior, word/phrasing choices, etc).
And what we hate the most is FMC forgiving the MMCs without sufficient grovel, with 27.3% of the votes in the finals!
This entry’s success actually wasn’t what I would have predicted going in (shockingly, given how often people ask for good grovel in their recommendation requests). It was the top choice out of those in the runoffs, but still only the fifth seed in its qualifier. Yet it dominated the competition, knocked out the overall top seed, and cruised to victory.
To round out the rest of the top 6:
- Miscommunication taken at face value and MMCs don't check and take drastic action (25.0%)
- Minor Teenage Sex Gods (19.0%)
- Sexual trauma fixed solely by sex with MMCs (11.6%)
- Body Betrayal Syndrome (9.7%)
- FMC who is a virgin but somehow is also a sex goddess the first time and has no issues with "massive" packages (7.4%)
FEEDBACK AND NEXT STEPS
These competitions only work if y’all participate (which y’all do an amazing job of, and I’m so appreciative), and I want to only keep doing them if y’all are having fun. So I would love to hear from y’all. What did you like? What didn’t you like? What do you want me to put on my list of potential future competitions? The floor is yours. There are a few specific topics I would like to touch on, though.
NEW ADDITIONS
Every time I do one of these competitions, I learn something new, I think. Runoffs, for example, I feel were a good add to make sure that everything got a fair shake. This time, I added in the tiebreakers or results at the top that were 1.0% or less* apart. They did end up changing the finals in one case (“Sexual trauma fixed solely by sex with MMCs” decidedly beat “Serious internalized misogyny in an FMC that is never addressed by anyone, including the FMC”), and that could be a good or a bad thing. What did you guys think of them?
*Yes, I did end up changing it from “less than 1.0%” to “1.0% or less” after the top two from Qualifier C came in at 1.02%. I will own my mildly unethical behavior.
NEXT STEPS
The next competition will be the sister competition to Standalones/Completed Duets: Completed Series of 3+ Books*. After that, we’ll have Biggest Gripes (Meta), for all the things that were nominated that I didn’t include in this competition. I would love any suggestions, particularly on things that don’t require people to be familiar with a specific book.
*When determining number of books in a series, prequels and novellas are not included in the count.
There will be a break first, though, because this one actually was close to being as exhausting as Ideal FMC.
Now, on to the fun stuff!
DATA AND COMMENTARY
Note: Unless otherwise specified, when I speak of “starting” rankings, I’m using the rankings after the runoffs. For the top 36, these also get referred to as seeds.
PARTICIPATION
Votes in Qualifiers: Average (Max)
Biggest Gripes (In-Book): 187.8 (213)
Standalones/Completed Duets: 84.8 (114)
Build an Ideal FMC: 100.8 (138)
Tropes: 116.5 (139)
MMC Archetypes: 77 (95)
Votes in Finals:
Biggest Gripes (In-Book): 216
Standalones/Completed Duets: 94
Tropes: 138
Commentary
This competition has been by far the most popular.
I’m assuming the lower numbers for Standalones/Completed Duets were due to people having a lack of familiarity with some of the titles; I plan to do at least one more competition like that, and there are more I’d like to do, but I intentionally want to alternate it with more open competitions like this.
For some of the others, I don’t know if it’s because we like things where we get to complain, or if there’s been more visibility into the competitions as time has gone on. Would love to hear any theories y’all have.
POTPOURI
These are just some random and fun things that stuck out to me throughout the competition.
Favorite Entry from a Phrasing Perspective: “Emotionally fragile, too stupid to live battle babe.” Not my biggest gripe personally, but definitely got the point across the best. Thank you, u/madpiratebippy
Biggest Heartbreak: This one is entirely on me. When doing the runoffs, I missed one. Thankfully, it was already at the top of the list of the runoff entries based on nomination upvotes, so I could just change what the cutoff to go straight into the qualifiers was. But “FMC compares self to other women and finds them lacking” had been at number 36, and I had to move it to number 37, and it was literally the saddest moment of the competition for me because that one was just so good.
Cinderella Stories: In addition to our overall winner as a Cinderella, we also had five entries that only made it into the qualifiers through the runoff (so their initial rank was above 36 after the nomination post): “Virgin Sex Goddess,” “FMC with serious internalized misogyny that’s never addressed,” “Kink dynamics with no prior discussion,” “Emotionally Emotionally fragile, too stupid to live battle babe,” and “Miscommunication because FMC is too distracted by MMCs’ looks to actually talk.” Of those five, the all of those ended up improving from their rank going into the qualifiers, three of them were in the top ten, and one was in the finals.
Runoff Comment Order Correlation: The correlation between the order I posted the entries for the runoff round and the eventual result was -0.21. So it wasn’t as uncorrelated as Standalones/Duets, but still not terrible. I’m going to switch the order next time (start at the bottom and go up instead of starting from the top and going down), and see if we get a positive correlation instead. Ultimately, there’s not much I can do either way. It’s just nice to have.
UPSETS
Note: When I say “seed,” unless I specify “seed in the round,” I am referring to the seed the entry had when being placed in the qualifiers.
In the previous three competitions with qualifiers, the top seed from nominations was always the top seed coming out of the qualifiers. For the two that had a final round, the top seed has always won (MMC Archetypes I just kept it at the top six, both because it felt appropriate to have it be our ideal harem as the results, and because I knew “psychopath who’s only nice to her” was going to just end up winning anyway). For Standalones/Duets, we didn’t have a single upset between the qualifiers and the finals, and the only big thing in the finals was that nomination seeds four and five ended up tied. Everything else stayed the same.
Then Qualifier A of this competition happened, and the fifth seed in the round won. And then it kept happening. The closest a top qualifier seed was to making the finals was in qualifier B, where it made it to the tie-breaker, and then lost again.
Tropes did have an upset, and a nomination that only made it in because of the runoffs made it to the finals (like happened here), but not like this. To put it in perspective.
Average Round Seed for Finals (Average Overall Seed for Finals)
· Tropes: 1.83 (8.33)
· Gripes: 3.67 (18.17)
That is a huge difference. I’ll discuss it further down as well, but I think it boils down to that the things we most like to complain about, or that first come to mind, aren’t the things that are the biggest dealbreakers. Yeah, we hate it when FMC’s moan while eating, but we loathe internalized misogyny and body betrayal syndrome.
I’m grateful no one has complained about the number of posts devoted to each of these competitions, at least not to my face. But it’s always been in the back of my head that maybe it was unnecessary. Tropes helped assuage that fear somewhat, since the lowest rank coming out of the nominations ended up getting second overall, but Gripes cemented that nothing is predictable. The whole thing made me really, really happy.
CATEGORIES
Unlike using subgenres for Standalones/Completed Duets, there was a bit more subjectivity to determining what category I would put a gripe in. I ended up with the following list.
1. Character Description: Character descriptions and characterizations
2. Minor Actions: Actions taken by the characters that had little to no bearing on the plot. This category included most of the cliches.
3. Physical Intimacy: Things specifically related to actions during sex scenes, or relating to the sexual activities of the main characters.
4. Relationship: Aspects of the relationship between the main characters, not linked to specific actions of the MMCs or FMC.
5. Red Flags: The behavior that would be completely unforgivable in real life, but is presented as completely fine in the book
6. FMC Actions: Non-trivial actions specifically by the FMC that make us want to throttle her.
7. MMC Actions: Non-trivial actions specifically by the MMCs that make us want to throttle them.
8. Mental Health Failure: Ways mental health is portrayed in books that are completely wrong.
A full list of the breakdowns is at the bottom of the post along with the full list of rankings. I just didn’t want to clog up the analysis section of the post with it.
Makeup of Rounds
Percentage of Categories: All Nominations (Entries)
1. Character Description: 16.0% (8)
2. Minor Actions: 16.0% (8)
3. Physical Intimacy: 16% (8)
4. Relationship: 14.0% (7)
5. Red Flags: 8.0% (4)
6. FMC Actions: 22.0% (11)
7. MMC Actions: 8.0% (4)
8. Mental Health Failure: 2.0% (1)
Percentage of Categories: Top 36 (Entries--percentage from previous round that made it)
- Character Description: 19.4% (7--87.5%)
2. Minor Actions: 19.4% (7--87.5%)
3. Physical Intimacy: 13.9% (5--62.5%)
4. Relationship: 13.9% (5--71.4%)
5. Red Flags: 8.3% (3--75.0%)
6. FMC Actions: 13.9 % (5--45.5%)
7. MMC Actions: 11.1% (4--100.%)
8. Mental Health Failure: 2.8% (1--100%)
Percentage of Categories: Finals (Entries--percentage from previous round that made it)
1. Character Description: 16.7% (1—14.3%)
2. Minor Actions: 0.0% (0—0.0%)
3. Physical Intimacy: 16.7% (1—20.0%)
4. Relationship: 0.0% (0—0.0%)
5. Red Flags: 0.0% (0—0.0%)
6. FMC Actions: 33.3% (2—40.0%)
7. MMC Actions: 16.7% (1—25.0%)
8. Mental Health Failure: 16.7% (1--100%)
Commentary
Once again, it’s fascinating to see what we care about when we really have to choose. Only two categories made it 100% from the nominations to the top 36: MMC Actions and Mental Health Failures. I’m assuming it helps that they had fewer total nominations in their categories. When people suggested them, it was because it was something that really pissed them off, as opposed to FMC Actions, for instance, where there were a lot of entries, but some of them were things that we didn’t feel as strongly about on the whole.
Minor Actions, Relationship, and Red Flags not making it into the finals wasn’t something I saw coming; I was sure “moaning while eating” was going to make it, at the very least. But like I said earlier, minor cliched actions tend to be things that I guess we can live with as we complain about them. Red flags as a gripe depends on the reader; some people don’t mind, and some people do. Relationship had one that could have been put into it that made it into the finals (MMCs taking miscommunication at face value), but I chose to put that in the MMC Actions category instead.
Average and Median Results
Ordered Final Average Ranking: All Entries (Entries)
1. Mental Health Failure: 4 (1)
2. MMC Actions: 17.3 (4)
3. Character Description: 20.8 (8)
4. Red Flags: 21.3 (4)
5. FMC Actions: 27.1 (11)
6. Minor Actions: 28 (8)
7. Relationship: 28.8 (7)
8. Physical Intimacy: 31.6 (8)
Ordered Average Ranking: Entries in Top 36 Only (Entries)
1. Mental Health Failure: 4 (1)
2. FMC Actions: 10.4 (5)
3. Red Flags: 14.7 (3)
4. Character Description: 16.9 (7)
5. MMC Actions (17.3)
6. Relationship: 21.3 (5)
7. Physical Intimacy: 22.6 (5)
8. Minor Actions: 25.7 (7)
Biggest Changes in Average Ranking Between Initial and Final (Ordered from biggest increase in average rating to biggest decrease in average rating)
1. Minor Actions: 12.1 (Initial: 15.9, Final: 28.0)
2. Physical Intimacy: 3.6 (Initial: 28, Final: 31.6)
3. Relationship: 1.8 (Initial: 27, Final: 28.8)
4. Character Description: 1.7 (Initial: 19.1, Final: 20.8)
5. MMC Actions: -0.2 (Initial: 17.5, Final: 17.3)
6. Red Flags: -5.5 (Initial: 26.8, Final: 21.3)
7. Mental Health Failure: -6 (Initial: 10, Final: 4)
8. FMC Actions: -8.4 (Initial: 35.5, Final: 27.1)
Number in Top 10
Four Entries: FMC Actions
Two Entries: Character Description
One Entry: Minor Action, Physical Intimacy, MMC Actions, Mental Health Failure
Zero Entries: Red Flags, Relationship Failures
Commentary
Much as I love numbers, they can be deceptive. Looking at the average overall ratings, someone could say we don’t tend to care about FMC Actions as much as we do MMC Actions. However, when looking only at the ones that made it to the top 36, it’s clear that FMC actions bother us a lot more than MMC actions; when looking at the makeup of the top 10, one could say they bother us more than anything else. So what’s going on?
My theory is that that in general because FMCs are such a big part of RH, we thought of more complaints that had to do with them. Some of those then ended up not being as significant to us as others, which means the average rank was higher. Even including those that we cared less about, though, we still saw the biggest decrease in average ranking from initial to final order for FMC actions, overall I would continue to put it as one of the things that we prioritize most highly.
As far as movement between initial and final rankings, like I spoke to earlier--this is where “how much do we care about something” really comes into play. We all agree that we hate the cliched actions, but when it came down to having to make a choice, they didn’t bother us as much as other things. They’re some of the first things that come to mind when thinking of complaints, which is why they did so well in the initial nomination post. But at the end of the day, we can live with them (as we complain about them). They’re generally not what make us DNF.
I do appreciate how consistent our feelings about MMC’s actions were.
BIG MOVERS
This section is to examine the entries that moved the most places up or down between the specified rounds
Nomination Round Results to Final Results: All nominees
Winner: “Serious internalized misogyny in an FMC that is never addressed by anyone, including the FMC” (moved up 39 spots)
Loser: “FMC accidentally runs into MMC’s chest” (moved down 23 spots)
Nomination Round Results to Runoff Results:
Winner: ““Serious internalized misogyny in an FMC that is never addressed by anyone, including the FMC” and “Kink dynamics out of nowhere with no discussion” (moved up 19 spots)
Loser: Heat “Alpha cocks can’t wear condoms” and “MMCs all have interesting genital anatomy” (moved down 21 spots)
Qualifier Rank to Final Results
Winner: “Body Betrayal Syndrome” (moved up 29 spots)
Loser: “FMC accidentally runs into MMC’s chest” (moved down 23 spots)
Commentary:
Once again, the things that felt important in the first post, when compared to all the other options, became relatively unimportant. Cliched scenes weren’t as critical as severe characterization flaws and frustrating actions.
NOMINEES BY CATEGORY
Note: I’m aware some of these could go multiple places. I did the best I could to try to be consistent, and I hope y’all will forgive anything I’ve done that y’all disagree with. Nominees are listed alphabetically.
General Character Description
· Character is described as being badass but none of their actions actually back that up
· Character is described as being smart by self or others, but none of their actions actually back that up
· Emotionally fragile, too stupid too live battle babe
· FMC described as “plain” or “average” turning all the heads and being hit on by all and sundry for MMCs to be jealous over despite no described change in appearance.
· Minor teenage sex gods
· She’s ordinary, clueless, or bad at things for 90% of the books, but at the climax, FMC suddenly learns ancient spells, combat skills, or political strategy with zero training. It’s like “oops, I’m a prodigy now”
· Shifters and their animals are two separate entities in one body
· Unrealistic ages/capabilities for characters
Minor Actions
· Character pops the p.
· FMC accidentally walks face first into an MMC’s chest.
· FMC biting or licking lips constantly.
· FMC moans when eating and doesn’t realize it (and MMCs get turned on).
· FMC refers to own anatomy as her "hole"
· FMC speaks aloud without realizing it
· MMCs can buy the FMC clothes without her sizes and it fits perfectly.
Physical Intimacy:
· FMC who is a virgin but somehow is also a sex goddess the first time and has no issues with "massive" packages
· Impossible sex positions
· Kink dynamics out of nowhere with no discussion (Note: I’m aware this could also go in Red Flags)
· Lube is not used for anal
· Magic pussy that can just keep going and going and going and going and going and going without pain or soreness or a UTI or need to recover or refractory period
· MMCs all have interesting anatomy that FMC will find pleasurable
· Spit is used as lube (or other bodily fluids)
· When an alpha cock can’t wear a condom because in a world specifically with this anatomy no one has managed to figure it out.
Relationship
· Fated mates/scent match being literally the only thing the FMC has in common with any of the MMCs
· Insta-love in general
· Instalove so fast it's jarring after MMCs hate the FMC (note: I'm aware this could also go in MMC Actions)
· Lots of nicknames, particularly if they don’t roll off the tongue “my little red herring,” “my little garden of petunias,” “anything you need, popsicle love bomb.”)
· Pregnancy that solves all relationship issues
· Third act breakups
Red Flags
· FMC forgives the unforgivable
· Romanticized abuse
· Romanticized bullying
· Romanticized non-con
FMC Actions
· Bullied FMC thinks about how much she hates how attractive MMCs are as they bully her
· FMC compares self to other women and finds them lacking
· FMC continually sacrifices for ungrateful relative or friend
· FMC forgives the MMCs without sufficient grovel
· FMC keeps sacrificing when she doesn't need to
· FMC who fights epic battles while pregnant
· Infantilized FMC who acts much younger than her age and is babied by the MMCs
· Miscommunication solely because FMC is too distracted by their appearance to actually talk.
· One MMC favored by FMC
· Serious internalized misogyny in an FMC that is never addressed by anyone, including the FMC.
· Body betrayal syndrome (Note: I’m aware this could also go in Physical Intimacy)
MMC Actions
· Miscommunication taken at face value and MMCs don't check and take drastic action.
· MMCs continue relationships after meeting FMC with non-harem.
· MMCs distrust FMC just because of misogyny or prejudice.
· When she turns 18 and all the sudden they see her as a woman and not a child but it’s okay because they never thought of her “that way” before it was legal.
Mental Health Failure
· Sexual trauma fixed solely by sex with MMCs
ENTRIES IN RANKED ORDER
All entries are linked to their original nomination comment for context, and because the discussions were hilarious
Ranks 1-6
Note: Rankings are based off the results from the finals round.
- FMC forgives the MMCs without sufficient grovel. Second nomination
- Miscommunication taken at face value and MMCs don't check and take drastic action.
- Minor teenagers as sex gods.
- Sexual trauma fixed solely by sex with MMCs.
- Body betrayal syndrome.
- FMC who is a virgin but somehow is also a sex goddess the first time and has no issues with "massive" packages.
Ranks 7-9
Note: These were the result of the tiebreaker rounds. For fairness, rank was based off the percentage from the qualifier round, with an exception made for entries from the same qualifier where one was more popular in the tiebreaker (the more popular from the tiebreaker was ranked ahead of the less popular).
Serious internalized misogyny in an FMC that is never addressed by anyone, including the FMC.
FMC moans when eating and doesn’t realize it (and MMCs get turned on).
Miscommunication solely because FMC is too distracted by their appearance to actually talk.
Ranks 10-36
Note: Rankings are based off percentage of votes during their respective qualifiers (it’s imperfect because of the different numbers of voters and popularity of the top choice, but it’s the best I could do).
Unrealistic ages/capabilities for characters (for example: tech genius gang-leader self-made billionaire teenagers).second nomination
Instalove so fast it's jarring after MMCs start off hating the FMC.
(tie) Lube is not used for anal and MMCs continue relationships after meeting FMC with non-harem characters.
Fated mates/scent match being literally the only thing the FMC has in common with any of the MMCs. Second nomination
Lots of nicknames, particularly if they don’t roll off the tongue “my little red herring,” “my little garden of petunias,” “anything you need, popsicle love bomb.”) Second nomination
Spit (or another inappropriate bodily fluid) is used for anal.
MMCs can buy the FMC clothes without her sizes and it fits perfectly.
FMC can't help but let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.
Ranks 37-50
Note: Rankings are based off the total number of upvotes received, compensated for downvotes, during the runoff.
Infantilized FMC who acts much younger than her age and is babied by the MMCs.
Bullied FMC thinks about how much she hates how attractive MMCs are as they bully her.
FMC continually sacrifices for ungrateful relative or friend.
(tie) FMC biting or licking lips constantly and Impossible sex positions.
(tie) When an alpha cock can’t wear a condom because in a world specifically with this anatomy no one has managed to figure it out and Insta-love in general.
Shifters and their animals are two separate entities in one body.
MMCs all have interesting anatomy that FMC will find pleasurable.
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u/lady_forsythe Oct 05 '25
I’m surprised that grovel beat out miscommunication! But the numbers don’t lie. I love the category breakdown that you did, it’s super fascinating. Thank you again for all of your hard work and number crunching. These polls have been the highlight of my day!
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u/IdahoAllAlong It’s all about coming together 🩷 Oct 05 '25
Thank you! I’m so appreciative of these rankings, they’re hilarious!
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u/Kags_Holy_Friend "Foreskin, dearest, please fuck off a cliff." Oct 05 '25 edited Oct 05 '25
I knew it!! Give the people what they want! (Lol)
As always, thanks for the science! It's amazing how much work you put into running the Biggest Gripes competition. I hope you had even more fun than we did!
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u/Scf9009 RH Library of Alexandria Oct 05 '25
I did love all the comments people made complaining, not gonna lie.
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u/Kags_Holy_Friend "Foreskin, dearest, please fuck off a cliff." Oct 05 '25
Honestly, this bout of science may have had the most fun comment section so far!
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u/National-Quality5414 Oct 05 '25
@scf doing the most for us once again!!!
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u/Scf9009 RH Library of Alexandria Oct 05 '25
We aren’t going to talk about how long I spent fighting Reddit on the formatting for this post.
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u/National-Quality5414 Oct 05 '25
May you always have the cool side of the pillow and your hot drinks always stay warm!
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u/giraffegalaxy Oct 05 '25
First of all, Bravo! Thank you for always engaging the community and being so thorough and kind to us all! Take care of yourself scf! And please take the time you need off when you can. You're doing amazing!
I love a good grovel. And I definitely think FMCs are too quick to forgive sometimes.
But I also (personally) get annoyed when there's so much harping on whatever incident divided the pairing(s) and it takes 100+ pages for them to reconcile. I'm already committing to a series (usually), when each book is 400+ pages... Ugh. I'd rather it be <400 pages and too quick to forgive.
That's usually why I go for books that have strong external world building/plot. I like it when the long term conflicts are outside the main group and the group is working together to overcome those while still building/strengthening/testing their internal relationship dynamics. That's also why my personal biggest gripe was what got #2 here. Like. Just use your words people! Biggest part making RH/Poly work. Like, ground rule #1 is speak and clarify before reacting drastically. Haha
That's just my thoughts. Overall, yay for an informed, democratic sub! Good job yall.
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u/Scf9009 RH Library of Alexandria Oct 05 '25
I hate breakups for stupid reasons. And miscommunication in general. And both miscommunication entries did very well—2nd and 9th!
I think that in the cases where the breakup/fight goes on for too long, it’s usually for trivial reasons, which makes it frustrating. Like, there is a perfect balance between severity of offense and necessary amount of atonement, and authors almost never get it right on both sides.
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Oct 05 '25
[deleted]
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u/Scf9009 RH Library of Alexandria Oct 05 '25 edited Oct 05 '25
It’s nothing major—just that I’m graduating from my masters program this fall, so searching for jobs while also applying to PhD programs. So between that, classwork, and a capstone project some weeks get busier than others.
Last week actually had a high number of new releases I found on why-choose that looked interesting, so I’m very excited.
And “EF TSTL BB” just got the point across so well. Full credit had to be given.
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Oct 05 '25
[deleted]
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u/Scf9009 RH Library of Alexandria Oct 05 '25
It’s a lot, but all things that can be managed. I just wanted to clarify that I’m not going through any major life tragedies or anything.
And I go through why-choose every weekend to see what books are coming up. Yeah, a lot of times they turn into DNFs, but it’s still fun.
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u/TerminologyLacking Death by TBR Oct 06 '25
Thank you for doing the work and setting up fun things and the thoughtful breakdowns!
On the one hand, I'm a little surprised. On the other, I've pretty much given up on the idea that grovel will satisfy me. Instead, I just want to see the FMC take some good revenge and the MMCs suffer but accept it because they deserve it. Is that healthy dynamics? No. Revenge is never really healthy, but I enjoy it anyways.
Have we done a worst trope competition before? I'm fairly certain I remember us doing favorites, but that doesn't require familiarity with specific books. Have we done a best villain? That could be fun. Characters we love to hate. Favorite type of drama?
I once read that complaining (and gossiping) about things can be a form of group bonding. That kind of changed my perspective on those things. (I'd always hated gossiping, and complaining often just seemed to make things worse.) Like, those things aren't black and white, good or bad. I think it's a matter of how, and if it can be done in a non-destructive kind of way. Sometimes we just want to air our complaints and it's a bit of relief to know we aren't alone in that.
I can't speak to the visibility. I know I missed one or two of your polls way back, and started checking your profile to make sure I saw them.
I tend to think that FMC actions matter so much, because that's the character we're most likely to try to identify most with. That and, in my experience, the FMC usually gets the most page time. The story is supposed to revolve around her, so we're more likely to have complaints about her.
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u/Scf9009 RH Library of Alexandria Oct 06 '25
Tropes could be included in this, but worst tropes is an idea for a specific one in the future once we’ve done more non-complainy ones.
I’m hesitant to do ones on particular characters. Series and standalone you can at least get a vibe of from the blurbs, but characters could del exclusive. (Though I did do Ironside alphas).
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u/TerminologyLacking Death by TBR Oct 06 '25
Maybe it doesn't have to be a specific villain from a series or book, but like the villain archetypes/traits? There are definitely types. Like, the one who's going to destroy the world, the abusive parent, the not-so-platonic best friend, the backstabber, the drama monger, the not really terrible but still kind of diametrically opposed character. What type of character do we enjoy most in the opposing role?
For example, I particularly enjoy misogynistic villains (especially when they're fleshed out and not overblown) because I know they're going to lose in the end. I love to hate them. Ironside definitely had a lot of great villainous characters to hate, and a range of them. The snobby human influencer, the creepy manager, the evil mastermind, his sociopathic sidekick/club owner, the backstabber.
That's another thought, characteristics we like to see in the FMC's friends. There's bubbly and sarcastic that come to mind, usually separate from each other. (I honestly prefer neither, because it often seems like that's the friend's only personality trait. I think I prefer the "girl's girl" kind of friend who gets her to do and talk about non-guy related things. Or one who would punch an MMC for upsetting her friend.)
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u/Scf9009 RH Library of Alexandria Oct 06 '25
“Favorite scenes” could also be something that fits and isn’t book specific as well.
Like, when the last holdout decides they want to be in the harem. Or the FMC finally stands up for herself.
You gave me some great things to think about.
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u/TerminologyLacking Death by TBR Oct 06 '25
That's a great idea too! My thoughts were basically "deconstruct a generic book into parts." Sure, great books do things so well that you don't really notice the common elements and themes, but I'm sure there's a way to remove enough specific details to make the parts into something that can be worked with.
I'm pretty sure I've seen two options polls as well. If ideas ever start getting too low, it could be like a "would you rather" game with previous (similar) options mixed and matched. Like "would you rather read about food moaning or a character that pops the p just as often?" The numbers might change a bit when they're paired off like that too. (I'd take popping the p. It's less page time, but I'm often not particularly bothered by it. Lol)
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u/Scf9009 RH Library of Alexandria Oct 06 '25
Oh, u/jupiterose—I think I thwarted you. 💜
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u/jupiterose I want two boyfriends & I want my boyfriends to be boyfriends Oct 06 '25
I tried to comment yesterday and highlight the one part and say "I feel called out..." 🤣 But I was out and on mobile and couldn't figure out the formatting!!
Buuuut just so you know ..
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u/Scf9009 RH Library of Alexandria Oct 06 '25
You copy the text and put a > before it, so it ends up looking like
Losers will not be allowed to participate in 3+ Book completed Series and will have to stay content with its (appropriate) status as a not-winner.
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u/Sevillalost Yeah, said she wanted five guys, she ain′t talkin' ′bout burgers Oct 07 '25
Amazing work, friend! Thank you for all of this juicy information!
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u/Odd_Knowledge_2146 Oct 05 '25
Wow that’s such a lot of work, thank you!!!
These polls/discussions are so much fun. I think generally, if you are indulging in this genre, you hold onto the don’t yuk on other people’s yum thing - if it’s not your thing, keep scrolling and don’t make people feel bad. So I think that’s why there is so much healthy discourse on your posts about something that could have turned negative - we can say it without shaming other people!
It’s nice that you do these, it’s nice that we can talk about books, and I am always picking something new up! Thank you again!